The present invention relates to a curtain airbag bracket for mounting a curtain airbag to a vehicle body, which develops in the form of a curtain along a side of the vehicle body of an automobile and the like, and also relates to a curtain airbag device including the same.
Hitherto, as one of airbags that are inflated by gas introduced therein in the event of collision of a vehicle such as an automobile and the like, a so-called curtain airbag has been known to develop along the side of the vehicle body. This curtain airbag is accommodated along a corner portion of intersection between a ceiling portion and a side face portion in the interior of the vehicle body in a state of being folded in an elongated shape during a non-deployment state, and is inflated to extend downwardly along the side of the vehicle body by gas introduced therein upon receiving a side impact due to a lateral collision or the like.
Generally, this curtain airbag is mounted to a vehicle body in such a manner that a plurality of attachment pieces (attachment portions) provided in an edge portion of the airbag with a predetermined interval from each other is fixed on an airbag fixing portion provided in the corner portion of intersection in the interior of the vehicle body by using curtain airbag brackets, bolts and the like at a plurality of points in a front-rear direction of the vehicle body. As a curtain airbag bracket like this, for example, there is one described in Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-053003.
This curtain airbag bracket of a conventional art has an angle-bent configuration having a substantially L-shaped cross section and includes a vehicle body attaching portion (attachment portion), which is attached to the vehicle body using a bolt, and a bottom plate portion (counter-force bearing portion) angle-bent with respect to the vehicle body attaching portion, the bottom plate portion enabling to bear the counter force produced when a curtain airbag develops.
As described above, a curtain airbag is provided with attachment pieces attached to a vehicle body at a plurality of points in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body, and is accommodated along the corner portion of intersection in the vehicle cabin in a state of being folded in an elongated shape in the non-deployment state. At this time, particularly at a part from a front pillar to a roof side rail of the corner portion of intersection in the vehicle cabin, the curtain airbag is accommodated in a state of being curved for structural reasons. As a result, in the case when the curtain airbag is inflated to extend downwardly due to the lateral collision or the like, the attachment portion in the curved part from the front pillar to the roof side rail is subjected to tension (downward tensile force) following the downward expansion of the curtain airbag.
Accordingly, in view of optimizing the curtain airbag, it is required to effectively absorb the downward tension following the expansion of the curtain airbag in the attachment portion at the part from the front pillar to the roof side rail, and to maintain a proper mount state of the curtain airbag.
An object of the present invention is to provide a curtain airbag bracket and a curtain airbag device where a proper mount state of a curtain airbag with respect to a vehicle body can be maintained.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.